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Zangoose/RSE
Zangoose can be found only on Route 114 and only in Ruby, at a 19% chance. I know what you may be thinking, "Not another Normal-type!" Well hold onto your butts because Zangoose is no derp! Plenty of Attack and Speed, and while its movepool is hardly the widest, it has all it needs! Just make sure to keep an eye on it, they don't call it a "glass" cannon for nothing. Important Matchups * Tabitha (Mt. Chimney): Spam Normal STAB of choice, watch everything die. Easy. * Maxie (Mt. Chimney): Terribly risky. A single Swords Dance is enough to take out all his Pokemon, however Mightyena can halt attempts to set up with Roar and cause misses with Sand-Attack, Golbat may outspeed and confuse you and Camerupt is straight-up lethal if you fail to one-shot it. * Gym #4 - Flannery (Lavaridge City, Fire-type): The fragile Slugmas will pose no threat, but don't even try taking on Torkoal unless you've set up with a few Swords Dances beforehand. If you have, though, go right ahead. * Gym #5 - Norman (Petalburg City, Normal-type): Surprisingly, Zangoose can survive a Facade as long as it doesn't crit, which constitutes a perfect chance to set up. From there it's then a simple matter of Truant abuse by spamming Dig. Slaking #2 will keep trying to Focus Punch you, so just use Slash or Return until it dies. Vigoroth should be no trouble. * Courtney (Weather Institute): Again, spam Normal STAB of choice, preferably Return since Mightyena will annoy Zangoose with Intimidate. A single hit should still nail it, though. * Rival (Route 119): Step 1: Select Return. Step 2: Tap A. (Optional) Step 3: Gloat. * Gym #6 - Winona (Fortree City, Flying-type): Swellow has the nasty Endeavor/Quick Attack combo as well as Double Team, Pelipper can confuse, Skarmory resists Normal and annoys with Sand-Attack and Altaria... is Altaria. However, with +6 levels of attack boost, everything including Skarmory will fall to a single Return. Set up on the Swellow and sweep or don't send Zangoose in. * Rival (Lilycove City): Same as the previous Rival fight. He/she now has a Swellow, but as long as Double Team doesn't troll too much you should be able to handle it. * Tabitha (Lilycove Hideout): Even more Return spam! But don't fight Camerupt. It's too bulky for Zangoose and, even if you taught it Surf, you wouldn't kill it in one go. It can roll a high Magnitude number and kill you back though, so just avoid it. * Gym #7 - Tate and Liza (Mossdeep City, Psychic-type): As expected with a double battle, it's a huge gamble. Two Shadow Balls (One if Swords Dance is used first) will be enough to take out either of their Pokemon but Zangoose will have trouble if they gang up on him/her. Just make sure to go after the Lunatone first: STAB Psychic off a base 95 Special Attack is bad enough without Calm Minds backing it up. * Courtney (Seafloor Cavern): No no, Camerupt is not Zangoose's fight. If you didn't like Magnitude, you definitely won't like Earthquake. Mightyena is much better, just watch out if it uses Swagger in case you don't manage to OHKO it. * Maxie (Seafloor Cavern): Mightyena can be handled as long as you immediately heal Swagger-induced confusion. The others should be avoided, as Crobat is wicked fast, quite powerful and carries Confuse Ray and the often critting Air Cutter while Camerupt now has Earthquake. * Groudon (Cave of Origin): Groudon's base 140 Defense + STAB Earthquake coming from 150 Attack = a red smear where your Zangoose once was. Don't do this to yourself. * Gym #8 - Wallace (Sootopolis City, Water-type): One Sword Dance will allow you to sweep the whole team, although it WILL be annoying to use the Luvdisc for this purpose, as it has Sweet Kiss and the potentially annoying Attract. However, the rest of his team is fairly dangerous for setup strategies, so pack your heals and have some patience. It'll work out. * Wally (Victory Road): Altaria can be beaten in two Returns and won't be able to defeat you, Delcatty is more annoying than harmful and Roselia is a joke. Magnemite is risky, as Thunderbolt will deal close to half your health and it also has Supersonic. Best to uses someone else against Gardevoir, as Psychic is devastating. * Elite Four Sidney (Ever Grande City, Dark-type): There is really no good chance to set up Swords Dance in this fight. Mightyena's Intimidate combined with Sand-Attack makes it irritating, but its attack are weak enough that you should be able to handle it. Cacturne is frail, so Return away. Shiftry should only be challenged if you have Aerial Ace for some reason. Sharpedo and Absol hit too hard and the former is faster than you to boot; avoid them. * Elite Four Phoebe (Ever Grande City, Ghost-type): Dusclops is too bulky to be one-shot; if it uses Confuse Ray or Curse, pull Zangoose out of there. Both Banettes will fall to a single Shadow Ball each and are your best candidates for Sword Dance. Sableye is annoying with Attract, but if you set up/have a female Zangoose/have a Red Flute you'll have no trouble. Dusclops #2 is a poor attacker, so Shadow Ball away, as long as you make sure to heal confusion. * Elite Four Glacia (Ever Grande City, Ice-type): Swords Dance once and spam Return. Really, that's all it takes. Brick Break is perfect for this purpose. * Elite Four Drake (Ever Grande City, Dragon-type): While a single Swords Dance is enough to OHKO all Drake's Pokemon, do not attempt unless you are absolutely certain you can outspeed them all. This goes double for the Salamence, who can take off more than half your health in one attack. The Shelgon is a joke regardless, though. * Champion Steven (Ever Grande City, Steel-type): Skarmory is weak enough to set up three Swords Dances on (though you'll probably have to heal at least once), at which point you can kill it with two Brick Breaks,then proceed to one-shot most of his team with Brick Break (Armaldo and Aggron) and Shadow Ball (Claydol). Metagross, on the other hand, is bulky enough to potentially survive a +6 attack Shadow Ball even with a Spell Tag equipped, at which point the counterattack can and most likely will take out Zangoose. If you're lucky enough to have a Attack-boosting Natured Zangoose, you should be fine, but if not either use someone else or pray to the RNG like you never have before. * Post-Game: What post game? Moves When you get it, it'll have Leer (not that useful), Quick Attack (useful for the short time until you get Slash/Return), Swords Dance (keep it forever!) and Fury Cutter (even with Zangoose's Attack, its initial power is too low). At level 19 you get Slash, which will be your main attack until Return's powerful enough to replace it. Level 25 gives you Pursuit which is pathetic. At level 31 you get Crush Claw - a marginal improvement over Slash, but really, you should have your Return maxed out by now, and if you can't/don't want to use Return for some reason, Strength is still better than both moves. Level 37 brings "Taunt" which would be more useful if Zangoose could endure being attacked constantly. Level 46 gives you Detect which does little except waste time. Finally, at Level 55 you get False Swipe, far too late to be useful. As far are TMs are concerned, ignore all special attacks as Zangoose's Special Attack is lousy. Iron Tail is temptingly powerful, but its accuracy is shaky. Return is fantastic and should be your main offensive move. Dig has a few uses and provides some extra coverage but its power is on the low side. Shadow Ball is highly recommended as a means for fighting Ghosts. Brick Break will make it easier to handle Rock and Steel types. Double Team and Attract are fine if you're feeling lucky (punk), but are not reliable. Recommended moveset: Swords Dance, Return, Shadow Ball, Brick Break / Dig Other Zangoose's stats * What Nature do I want? Adamant is the most ideal, but anything that lowers Special Attack is good. Avoid Attack-lowering natures. * How good is Zangoose in a Nuzlocke? Zangoose has enough power to carry you through many tough battles but exercise caution, as it has trouble surviving careless mistakes. If you like death-or-glory situations, this is the Pokemon for you. * Weaknesses: Fighting * Resistances: None * Immunities: Ghost * Neutralities: Normal, Flying, Fire, Water, Grass, Bug, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, Dark, Rock, Poison, Ground, Steel, Electric Category:Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses